Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo denies Noah Lyles sprint double in Olympic 200m

Running in memory of his mother, who passed away in May, 21-year-old Letsile Tebogo of Botswana stormed to victory in the men’s 200m final in Paris on Thursday, beating a field of giants, including two-time world champion and 100m Olympic champion Noah Lyles and denying him the sprint double he so desperately wanted.

Tebogo ran 19.46–a PB and African record. Kenny Bednarek of Team USA took silver, running 19.62, while Lyles had to settle for bronze for his second consecutive Olympics; the brash American ran 19.70.

Lyles’ result was flagged with a warning for unsportsmanlike behaviour, after he entered the track taunting his competitors and running in front of them. After the race, which he left in a wheelchair, he said he tested positive for Covid two days ago.

Olympic champ Letsile Tebogo moves up to 5th on the 200m all-time list 😤

🥇 19.46 Letsile Tebogo 🇧🇼
🥈 19.62 @kenny_bednarek
🥉 19.70 @LylesNoah 🇺🇸 #Paris2024 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/plWA7ckgS3

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 8, 2024

Tebogo beat Lyles in their semi-final heat on Wednesday, in 19.96; it was Lyles’s first loss over 200m in three years. This is Tebogo’s first Olympics, after finishing third last year in Budapest. Bednarek won silver in Tokyo in 2021 and silver in Eugene in 2022; he won the first heat of the semi-finals on Wednesday.

Tebogo told reporters after the race that the gold medal is a dream come true, citing the hardships he has experienced, and preferring to call his gold medal a “bonus” as he focuses on the 2028 Olympics, but he admitted that it meant a great deal to the team that has rallied behind him in his Olympic quest. With reference to the African record, he said, “My coach told me, let’s run today’s race the way we ran the London Diamond League last year [when he ran 19.50, finishing second behind Lyles], so I knew what it takes to run the African record.” 

No Canadians made the 200m final; Andre De Grasse, the defending Olympic 200m champion, revealed he’s been dealing with a hamstring problem after failing to qualify for the final. 

According to a report in Pulse Sports, Tebogo’s mother, Seratiwa, passed away May 19 after a brief illness, leaving Letsile and his 12-year-old sister; Letsile was competing at the LA Grand Prix at the time, where he finished second in the 100m. The family said Seratiwa was strongly supportive of her son’s track career. Tebogo told reporters after the race that when she died, he thought is career was over, but that his team made sure he was looked after, and that he made it to Paris “with a healthy body and a healthy mind.”